Sefer Chupat Chasanim, Livorno, 1797. First Edition. Each page printed within a border.
Fundamental Sefer on the laws and customs of marriage. It was received to great acclaim and for generations this Sefer has served as an essential handbook for both scholars and layman.
He is buried in London and in recent years many visit his Kever. There are numerous stories of people who visited his Kever and recited the prayer printed at the beginning of the Chupas Chasanim for a Shidduch and shortly thereafter found shidduchim.
[19], 88. 88-111 Leaves. 15.1 Cm.
Signature on title page ”Raphael Chaim Pergola S”t”
Raphael Chaim Pergola (1876–1923), was a Italian rabbi. Della Pergola studied at Florence and for seven years served as rabbi of Gorizia. In 1910 he was appointed head of the Jewish community of Alexandria, Egypt, retaining this post until shortly before his death which occurred in Florence. He was also of great help to the refugees from Ereẓ Israel who went to Egypt during World War i. One of the leading Zionists in Alexandria, in 1918, when the cornerstone of the Hebrew University was laid in Jerusalem, Della Pergola was invited by Weizmann to participate in the ceremony.
Overall in Excellent Condition, light stains, repaired marginal tears to last page. Later binding.
Rabbi Haham Raphael Meldola (1754 – 3 June 1828) was a Rabbi who served in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Born in Livorno, he died in London.
Raphael originally worked as a printer before he received a thorough university training, both in theological and in secular studies. Over the course of his studies, he displayed such remarkable talents that when only 15 years old he was permitted to take his seat in the rabbinical college in Livorno. He received his semicha (rabbinical degree) in 1796 from Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai (commonly referred to as the ‘Hida’), and in 1803 became a dayan (rabbinic judge).
In 1805, Meldola was elected haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Great Britain. He arrived there following a long journey from Livorno on the eve of Rosh Hashana. In his first days, Meldola immediately and energetically embarked on a number of goals. Among them was improved collaboration and cooperation between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, and he persuaded the two communities to set up a joint board for shechita (ritual slaughtering). Another area he soon took up was to counteract the activities of missionaries and the reform movement.
Meldola looked as well to ensure the dignity and proper execution of synagogue prayers—and he introduced what has become one of the most distinctive and appreciated qualities of the Spanish and Portuguese service: its choir. "As an Italian, " notes one biographer, "Meldola had been fond of music and had been the first person to introduce a choir into the London synagogue."
Meldola died in London in June 1828. One of his last requests were to be buried alongside his predecessor rabbi David Nietto.
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